South Korea's ruling party vows to minimize chaos with President Yoon's 'early departure'

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - South Korea's ruling party leader on Sunday vowed to minimize the fallout from President Yoon Suk-yeol's aborted martial law declaration through his "orderly, early" departure, stressing that most of the public believes he should step down.

People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon said Yoon is unable to govern normally for the remainder of his term, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

In a joint statement after talks with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo in Seoul, following Saturday’s unsuccessful motion to impeach Yoon, Han said that the embattled president would not be involved in the country's internal and foreign affairs before he steps down.

"Through an orderly, early departure of the president, we will minimize the chaos for the Republic of (South) Korea and its people, stabilize the political situation, and restore liberal democracy," Han was quoted as saying.

He added: "Until the president's departure, the prime minister and the party will closely consult to seamlessly take care of livelihood issues and state affairs.”

Han reiterated his condemnation of Yoon's martial law declaration and subsequent entry of soldiers into the National Assembly as an "unconstitutional act" and said the PPP, as the ruling party, takes the public's view of the situation seriously.

He also reaffirmed efforts to swiftly stabilize the situation, vowing to put the people first.

"What is most important at this moment is that there should not be one inch of a vacuum in state affairs,” he said in a separate statement.

He stressed that the whole Cabinet, with efforts led by the foreign minister, will strive to maintain trust with friendly countries.

"Firmly maintaining the South Korea-US alliance and the trilateral security cooperation with the US and Japan is a very big and crucial task," Han said.

- 'Impeachment is the only legal procedure'

Parliament Speaker Woo Won-shik said Sunday that the prime minister and the ruling party's "joint exercise" of presidential power is "unconstitutional."

In a televised address, Woo said impeachment is the only "legal" procedure to address Yoon's breach of the Constitution, referring to his aborted martial law declaration last week.